Professor of Former Hyderabad varsity to unearth more TS history

Jangaon: Former professor of history at University of Hyderabad (UoH), K P Rao, with financial assistance from the Archaeology Survey of India (ASI), is going to take up excavation works near a hillock located between Konne and Ramachandrapuram villages in Bachannapet mandal in the district in the first week of April. The site is located at a distance of 22 km away from Jangaon.

KP Rao, who is said to be an expert in megalithic burials, will excavate the site along with a British archaeologist as the ASI had given its nod for the same.

History professor and archaeology enthusiast R Rathnakar Reddy of Jangaon has already collected several tools, equipments and beads from the palaeolithic, mesolithic and neolithic periods and from the Satavahana period.

A terracotta idol of an elephant and an idol of Shiva and Parvathi were among the treasures found at the site.

Speaking to Telangana Today, Rathnakar Reddy said that KP Rao and his team have met the sarpanches and land owners at the proposed site and have decided to take up the excavation works in April.

The excavation will last for about two months. “The proposed site at Ramchandrapuram is a very important site as I have already found several objects there. We hope that we will definitely find several valuables belonging to the pre-historic period,” he said.

On the other hand, Reddy also urged officials of the State Archaeology Department to take up the works at Pottigutta near Jangaon.

Reddy had earlier found pottery belonging to the Satavahana and pre-historic period at the site. “The State Archeology Department officials said that they would take up the excavation works at Pottigutta after completing the works at Peddabonkur in Peddapally district,” he added.

Ornaments nearly 4,000 years old and made of bones, a capstone and other rare objects belonging to the megalithic age were found at different sites in Narmetta area in the district last year.